* 355 
433 
apy 1 



- 



Brother Jonathan Series"— No. io 



SUCCESS WITH 

STONE IKIJITS 




Copyright, 1906, 

By Tfie Fruit-Grower Company i 

St. Joseph. Mo. 



"Bro. Jonathan" Series of Fruit Books 

Copyrij exclusively by The Fruit-Grower 

uri. 

lokleta published by The Fruit-Grower 
Mo., on different of fruit culture, 

which are intended to help those engaged in the pursuit of 
horticulture. All books are illustrated. 

No. 1 — "Propagating Trees and Plants." I 'scribes the pro- 

of budding, grafting, etc. Jt is by Prof. \\\ 

L. Howard of the University of Missouri, with protographs 

E. H. Favor, of the same Institution. 

No. 2 — "A Treatise oh Spraying." By Prof. J. M. Stedman, 

entomologist of the Missouri Experiment Station. Many of 

the most d ts are shown, with full directions 

ombating them. 

No. 3 — "How to Grow Strawberries." — By Dr. J. C. Whitten, 

professor of horticulture of the University of Missouri. It 

- of growing Strawberries as a commercial crop or for 

homi 

No. 4 — "The Home Garden." -By Prof. Howard and Mr. 

it tells he \\ to make hotbeds, coldframes, etc.; how 

to handle them to the best advantage. The more common 

garden vegetables are discussed, together with some which 

No. "> — "Packing and Marketing Fruits." — By Prof. F. A. 

Waugh, of Massachusetts Agricultural College. This book 

tells about the eorred times for picking different fruits. 

ibes different packages used in which to market them. 

No. 6 — "A Book About Bush Fruits." — Bj Prof. A. T. Ei-win 
of Iowa Agricultural College. Treats of blackberries, rasp- 
berries, etc., with methods of culture; also gives recipes 
for canning and preserving. 

No. 7— "Growing Grapes."— By E. H. Hiehl, Alton, 111. Mr. 
Riehl is a successful commercial grower, and discusses va- 
rieties, modes of training, 

No. 8 — "Hints on Pruning." — By Dr. J. C. Whitten. The 
pruning of different kinds of fruit trees and plants is dis- 
cussed, with reasons for the methods recommended. 

No. 9 — "Apple Culture, with a Chapter on Pears." — By Dr. J 
C. Whitten. This is intended to be a booklet for the prac- 
tical man who wants to know how to get some good from 
his orchard. 

No. 10 — "Success With Stone Fmits."— By Prof. F. A. Waugh 
The different stone fruits are treated, with lists of best 
varieties of each. Methods of planting, pruning, etc., are 
discussed for each class. 

These Booklets Will Be Sent Postpaid for 

25c Eewch or Five for One Dollar 



Success With 
Stone Fruits 



Including Chapters on the Planting and Cultivation 

of Cherries, Peaches, Plums, Apricots, etc., 

with Description of Some of the 

Best Known Varieties. 



By F. A. WAUGH 

Professor of Horticulture 
Massachusetts Agricultural College 



PUBLISHED BY THE FRUIT-GROWER COMPANY 
SAINT JOSEPH, MISSOURI 

1905 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 




Two CoDies Received 

MAY 4 1906 


$"£> : - 


- Copyright Entry 
CLASS (X^ XXc. No, 
COPY 6. 





Brother Jonathan 
Series 




Booklet No. 10. 



AUTHOR'S FOREWORD 

In writing a pamphlet like this the problem of 
what to leave out becomes a very serious one. The 
author of this once wrote an entire book of several 
hundred pages on plums alone. An equal amount 
of space would be required to do justice to the 
peach. Yet here all the stone fruits must be treated 
in less than a hundred pages. 

Brevity, besides being the soul of wit, has many 
other practical advantages; but in a case of this 
sort it has certain disadvantages. In such short 
space there can manifestly be given only the main 
general directions for the management of each class 
of fruit. The fine points, as one might say, have 
to be omitted. Yet it is precisely on these fine 
points that success rests. 

Again it is necessary in a large country like ours, 
that practice should vary. Some things are done 
differently in Missouri from what they are in Mas- 
sachusetts. These differences may be of great in- 
terest or even importance, but they can not be dis- 
cussed in such a short book as this. 

Still further, certain statements have to be made 
as general rules, which, though very good as such, 
are subject to local exceptions. But this booklet 
leaves no room for the exceptions. The author 
hopes that the reader will make due allowance for 
these limitations, and that in spite of them these 
chapters may arouse a greater interest in the culture 
of stone fruits, and at the same time give some hints 
for their more successful management. 

F. A. W. 



The Stone Truits 

The tree fruits, such as are grown in orchards, 
are sometimes divided into two classes: (1) The 
core fruits, and (2) the stone fruits. The first group 
contains the apple, the pear and the quince, all hav- 
ing a close botanical relationship, all much alike 
pomologically, and all requiring much the same 
treatment under cultivation. The second group, the 
stone fruits, contains the peach, the plum, the cherry, 
the apricot and the nectarine. These fruits also 
have many qualities in common, whether we con- 
sider the botanical relationships, their pomological 
characters or their cultural requirements. There is 
good sense therefore in the classification of our or- 
chard species into core fruit and stone fruits, and 
good reason for treating the stone fruits all together 
in a single monograph. 

Before taking up in detail the different varieties 
with their culture, it will be proper to present a few 
general facts regarding these various fruits. From 
this discussion all purely academic information will 
be ruled out. Botanical, morphological and histor- 
ical facts, no matter how interesting, have little bear- 
ing on the culture and practical management of 
orchards. These things can be found in the ency- 
clopedias. 



SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The Teach 

Unquestionably the most important of the stone 
fruits is the peach. It is widely grown in all civilized 
countries, particularly in North America, where from 
Ontario to Texas and from Delaware to California, 
it forms a commercial crop of prime consequence. 

The different varieties of peaches will be describ- 
ed elsewhere, but at this point it will be best to 
point out that there are several different kinds or 
types of peaches, differing in marked characters from 
one another. The most recent classification of 
peaches is that published by the present writer in 
his Systematic Pomology (Orange Judd Co., New 
York), from which the following grouping is taken. 
This classification divides the peaches into five 
groups. 

1. Persian Group — Typical peaches includes such 
varieties as the Crawfords, Oldmixon, Amsden, 
Alexander, etc. The fruits are nearly always more 
fuzzy and rounder than those of Group 2. 

2. Chinese Cling Group — Including such varieties 
as Champion, Waddell, Hiley and Belle of Georgia. 
Elberta is usually classified here, but it seems to 
be a cross having a slight strain of the blood from 
Group 1. The foliage of these trees is lighter col- 
ored than in Group 1, and other slighter differences, 
easily recognized by expert fruit men, but difficult 
of description, make this group a comparatively dis- 
tinct one. The varieties of this group are of rather 
recent introduction, but they have very quickly found 
a place in American horticultui e. Elberta in partic- 
ular has achieved a sudden and unparalleled popu- 
larity. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 7 

3. Honey Group — Fruit long and irregular in 
form, fruits long and corrugated. Grown only along 
the Gulf of Mexico, and not of commercial import- 
ance anywhere. • 

4. Columbia Group — Also a Southern group, being 
known in the Carolinas, Georgia and Texas and rep- 
resented by such varieties as Columbia, Cobler, Lula, 
Texas, etc. Of little or no importance commer- 
cially. 

5. Peen-to Group — Fruit characteristically flat- 
tened endwise, or oblate, though not all varieties 
show this formation. Flavor of the fruit sweet and 
peculiar. Tree usually not hardy. Adapted to ex- 
treme Southern latitudes, and expected to be of 
practical value in Florida, Southern Louisiana, etc. 




SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The Plum 

If the peach stands first, the plum is easily sec- 
ond in importance amongst the stone fruits. It covers 
a wider geographical range, though it is not so 
largely grown commercially. Certain kinds of plums 
are grown far to the north — as far as there is any 
form of agriculture. In fact the Americana and 
Nigra plums are the hardiest tree fruits known. 
Plums are also grown as far south as any of the 
tree fruits of the -temperate regions. Plums are also 
adapted to a wider range of soils than any other 
fruits, and also to a greater diversity of culinary 
uses. In fact the plum may fairly be called the most 
/ersatile of fruits. The cultivation of the plum is 
largely shrouded in ignorance, so that successful 
plum culture is rather rare; but that is another mat- 
ter. 

One prime reason for the great diversity of qual- 
ities in plums lies in the fact that they are derived 
from several different botanical species. While all 
the cultivated apples are derived from one original 
wild species, the plums are derived from a very 
large number — somewhere from ten to fifty, depend- 
ing on what sort of a classification we make and 
what varieties we are counting in. The principal 
groups are named below, but this classification is 
horticultural rather than botanical. 

1. European or Domestica Group — These are the 
"old-fashioned" plums, the progenitors of which 
were brought from Europe by our forefathers. The 
group has been long in cultivation, being one of the 
most ancient of fruits, and has many different forms. 
Seven principal types have been recognized, subor- 
dinate to the general species. These are (1) the 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 9 

Reine Claude type, (2) the Dame Aubert type, (3) 
the Prunes, (4) the Perdrigons, (5) the Diamond 
type, (6) the Bradshaw type, and (7) the Lombard 
type. These varieties are largely cultivated under 
the name of prunes on the Pacific slope, and as 
plums in the Eastern states and Canadian provinces. 
They do not succeed well in the prairie states nor in 
the South. 

2. Damson Group — The small damsons, nearly 
always dark blue in color, are known to every fruit- 
grower. They have considerable commercial value 
in sections where they can be grown. 

3. Myrobalan Group — The Myrobalan or cherry 
plums are seldom grown for fruit in this country, 
but are very extensively used as stocks on which 
to bud other plums. 

4. Japanese Group — The Japanese plums, proba- 
bly originally native to China, have been generally 
planted in America only during the last twenty-five 
years, but they are now widely known and in many 
places very popular. The trees are more peach-like 
than those of the Domestica plums, are somewhat 
less liable to black knot, are more rapid growers, 
and come earlier into bearing. This early bearing 
habit is a strong recommendation for the Japanese 
varieties, though it seems to be offset to some ex- 
tent by the comparatively early failure and death 
of the trees. There are several different sub-types 
of the Japanese plums. Six of these can be some- 
what easily recognized, as follows: (1) the Botan 
type, (2) the Red June type, (3) the Satsuma type, 
(4) the Kelsey type, (5) the Hale type (6) the 
Berger type. 

5. Gonzales Group — This group of plums has or- 
iginated by the hybridization of the Japanese vari- 
eties with the natives, particularly with native vari- 



10 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

eties of the Wildgoose and Chicasaw groups. It 
contains such varieties as Gonzales, Waugh, Golden, 
Yates and Red May. These are especially adapted 
to middle and southern latitudes, for which they 
seem to offer great promise. 

6. Omaha Group — This group originates through 
the hybridization of the Japanese varieties with the 
Northern native plums (Americanas). Up to the 
persent time no varieties of commercial importance 
have been introduced. 

7. Wickson Group — These varieties are hybrids 
of the Japanese plums with the Simon plum, Prunus 
Simonii. They have an upright habit of growth, and 
the fruit usually has a peculiar musky flavor. Wick- 
son, Climax and Bartlett are typical varieties. Wick- 
son has been widely planted, but the group as a 
whole has not proved to be a commercial success. 

8. The Simon Plum — Only one variety of this 
species, Prunus Simonii, is known in this country. 
It is a very upright tree, with oblate early fruit. It 
is grown in small quantities, especially in California, 
for a very early shipping plum. 

9. Americana Group — These are the plums native 
to the Central states and especially prominent in 
Iowa, Missouri and Kansas. They are very hardy 
and prolific, and can be grown in many sections 
where practically no other fruits, especially no other 
plums, will succeed. Such varieties as Wyant, De 
Soto, Weaver and Wolf belong to this group. 

10. Nigra Group — This is a Northern and Eastern 
form of the foregoing. It is of much less import- 
ance horticulturally, though a few varieties are de- 
rived from it, such as Aitkin and Cheney. 

11. Miner Group — The Miner group is closely 
related to the Americanas, from which they hardly 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 11 

need be separated for practical purposes, as they 
behave in the same way. Miner is the best known 
representative. 

12. Wayland Group — Native to the Southern 
states, especially Texas, where these varieties are 
of considerable value. Golden Beauty and Wayland 
are the best known. 

13. Wildgoose Group — Sometimes called the Hor- 
tulana plums. These are found wild in the Central 
Mississippi Valley, and are the best of all plums for 
orchard growing in many central latitudes. Milton, 
Wildgoose and Whitaker are the commonest vari- 
eties. 

14. Chicasaw Group — The Chicasaw plums in- 
habit low lands or sandy stretches in the Southern 
states. They form small thorny trees or bushes, 
nearly snail red, sweet, watery fruits. Some good 
orchard varieties have been derived from them, like 
Pottawattomie, Munson and Clifford. 

15. Sand Plums — These grow wild along the 
Western rivers, especially the Arkansas, the Cim- 
arron and the Republican, usually on sand plains or 
hills. While they are among the best wild plums 
known, they have never amounted to much under 
cultivation. There are a few budded varieties, but 
none which can be recommended for orchard plant- 
ing. 

16. Miscellaneous — Even the foregoing 15 groups 
do not include all the known plums. There are sev- 
eral other species which furnish edible fruit, and 
which are more or less worthy of domestication. 
The most important of these species are those 
known botanically as Prunus subcordata, P. mari- 
tima, P. gracilis and P. alleghenensis. There are 
also many hybrid plums coming into notice at the 



12 



SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



present time, some of which are hard to classify by 
reference to any of the foregoing groups. While 
all this seems complicated, it is really not so bad 
as it looks. It is not hard to understand the com- 
paratively few varieties commonly cultivated. 




FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 13 



The Cherry 

There are various types of cherries recognized by 
the pomologists, but for all practical purposes these 
may be reduced to two, the sweet cherries and the 
sour. 

Sweet cherries usually have larger trees than the 
sour varieties, with larger rough foliage, usually 
with larger, sweeter fruits. Formerly these used to 
be grown to some extent throughout the Eastern 
states, and occasional old trees are still frequently 
seen. However, they bear very little fruit, most of 
which is taken by the birds, the curculios and the 
fruit rot. Their cultivation is so precarious that very 
few men undertake it. The sweet cherry is grown 
commercially now only in a very restricted area in 
New York state and on the Pacific coast. In the 
Pacific states it is sometimes profitable, but else- 
where it may be looked on more as a curiosity than 
as a money crop. 

Sour cherries on the other hand thrive fairly well 
in nearly all the Northern states, and as far south 
as Maryland and Kansas. Certain varieties can be 
grown with success in the colder parts of Canada, 
so that altogether the sour cherries have a fairly 
wide range. Indeed, they are grown over almost 
the same geographical area as the apple. The trees 
are small, sometimes even dwarfish, with slender 
branches and smooth leaves. The fruit is small, 
black or red, very tart, but very rich when ripe. 
Representative varieties are Morello, Richmond and 
Montmorency. 



14 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The Apricot 

Two or three different species of trees bear fruits 
which are called apricots, but the commercial vari- 
eties are mostly considerably alike. Apricots are 
grown commercially only in small areas in Califor- 
nia, and there largely for canning. The tree and 
fruit are about midway between those of the peach 
and the plum, but they do not possess any distinct 
advantages over either. Men who like to have all 
kinds of fruits in their gardens plant apricots to 
keep up the diversity, but men who are trying to 
make money out of fruit-growing, mostly top their 
ventures with some other fruits. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 15 



The Nectarine 

The nectarine has often been described as a 
smooth skinned peach, and this is a very satisfac- 
tory characterization. The nectarine in fact is very 
closely related to the peach — so closely that peaches 
and nectarines have not infrequently been found 
growing on the same trees. In other words the 
nectarine is often merely a bud variation from the 
peach. Doubtless some varieties have occurred also 
as seed variations; but it is said that if one plants 
the seed of nectarines the offspring will be mostly 
peaches. The writer is ashamed to report that he 
has never tried so simple and so interesting an ex- 
periment. The tree of the nectarine looks exactly 
like that of the ordinary peach, and the fruit has 
the same general appearance and taste. Well-grown 
nectarines are very fine dessert fruit, and it seems 
odd that in a country where peaches are grown by 
train loads, as in America, nectarines should be al- 
most unknown. 



16 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



Culture of the Teach 

The peach may be propagated in various ways, but 
in practical business only two are used. Peach trees 
are grown from seed or from buds. In the first 
stages of fruit growing in nearly every section, 
peach orchards were grown from seed. The seed- 
lings do not come true to variety and so these or- 
chards had a mixture of big peaches and little ones, 
yellow and white, freestone and clings. They served 
a useful purpose in their day; but with the estab- 
lishment of commercial peach growing they were 
forced quickly to give way to orchards of named 
and budded varieties. 

Peaches are still extensively grown from seed 
everywhere, but only to be used as stocks for prop- 
agating named varieties. The seedlings are budded 
to the varieties desired. There are two principal 
sources of seed. A large majority comes from the 
canning factories, and considerable amounts are col- 
lected from half-wild seedlings, especially in North 
and South Carolina. Some of the best peach seed 
the writer has ever used was collected by the De- 
partment of Agriculture in Mexico. 

Whatever source the seed comes from, it is taken 
as soon as it is partially dry and either stratified or 
planted immediately. It is desirable that the seeds 
should not become stone dry. If the seed is to be 
planted in the fall, two precautions are important. 
The first is that the soil should be clean and well 
drained so that water may not stand on it during 
the winter; and the second is that mice and moles 
should not be too numerous. These litle rodents 
often follow rows of peach seed and clean them out 
almost entirely during the winter and spring. It is 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 17 

on account of the danger from them that the seed 
is more often stratified than fall planted. 

The stratification of the seed simply consists of 
burying it in a safe place where it will freeze dur- 
ing the winter. The freezing is sometimes said to 
be necessary. It is not absolutely essential, but is 
beneficial, especially in that it bursts the stones. 
When this stratification is carefully performed, it 
consists of placing the seed in a shallow wooden 
box or flat. Into such a box a layer of coarse sand 
is sifted; upon this is spread a layer of peach pits; 
then another layer of sand is put in; then a layer of 
peach pits; and so on until the box is full. This 
box is then buried in a well drained place where it 
will freeze, and in the spring the seed is sifted out 
of the sand and planted. The peach pits are some- 
times loosely buried in the soil without the special 
pains of stratification as described above. It is 
largely a question of convenience and the price of 
labor. 

Whether the seed is planted in fall or spring, it 
is usually run in rows about three and one-half feet 
apart, offering proper opportunity for horse culti- 
vation. The seeds are planted thickly in the rows so 
that the trees will stand on an average of three 
inches apart. Light, well-drained land should al- 
ways be chosen for the peach nursery, but it should 
not be sterile nor too dry. 

If necessary a fairly liberal fertilization should be 
given. It is important that a vigorous growth 
should be secured during the two years during 
which the trees occupy the soil. If the ground has 
to be fertilized, it is best to apply a liberal dressing 
of barnyard manure before planting the seed. A 
spring top dressing of fertilizer rich in nitrogen and 
potash may be given if required the first year. In 



/ 



18 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

most cases such a top dressing is still more valua- 
ble if given the sprint of the second year, that is, 
the year during which the budded trees make their 
heads. 

The real propagation of the peach is carried out 
by means of shield budding. This practice has been 
so often described that it seems hardly necessary to 
go into it here. In the common method the work 
is done sometime from the last of July to the last 
of September, depending on the locality and 
weather. It is necessary that the stocks should have 
reached a suitable size. They should be as large as 
a lead pencil or larger. 

The stocks must also be in such a condition that 
the bark will slip, as the budders say. The stock is 
prepared by stripping off the leaves near the ground 
and by making two incisions at right angles to one 
another forming a T. These cuts are made as near 
the surface of the ground as possible. The vertical 
cut should be one and one-half to two inches long 
and the horizontal cut across the top of the first 
incision should reach one-third to one-half the dis- 
tance around the tree. The two corners of bark 
thus formed may be easily lifted and the bud which 
is to be inserted is slipped down behind them. The 
buds are prepared as follows: The operator goes to 
the tree of the variety which he wishes to propagate, 
say Elberta or Champion. On this tree he selects 
strong clean shoots of the current season's growth, 
being careful, as far as possible, to avoid those which 
have fruit buds. These shoots are cut off and form 
his "budding sticks." The blade of each leaf is im- 
mediately cut off, leaving only the short leaf stalk 
or petiole. When the bud is to be inserted, the knife 
is run under it beginning about one-half an inch be- 
low the bud and coming out one-quarter of an inch 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 19 

above it. Thus each bud with the little leaf stalk 
attached forms a sort of a shield, from which the 
process gets its name of shield budding. 

This little shield is inserted in the opening already 
made on the stock and is tied in place with some 
soft material. Raffia is now almost universally used. 
Raffia may be secured of any seedman or nursery- 
man, and costs about 15 cents a pound. 

The buds are almost always inserted on the north 
side of the stock in order to protect them somewhat 
from the hot sun. A good budder can set two to 
three thousand buds a day. Some budders claim to 
be able to set five thousand buds a day, but one 
thousand five hundred is commonly looked upon as 
a day's work. It is understood that the stocks 
should be prepared and the buds tied in by a helper. 

After about ten days the stocks should be exam- 
ined. By this time it may be determined how many 
buds have taken. Usually the rapid growth which 
the stock makes at this time of the year causes the 
tie to bind inside of ten days. As soon as this bind- 
ing begins to show the raffia must be cut. If the 
weather is favorable it is possible at this time to 
rebud any stocks which have failed to take. 

The following spring the nursery is gone over 
again and each tree is cut back just above the in- 
serted bud. This particular bud should be pushed 
immediately into growth. The nursery needs to be 
gone over once or twice soon after growth starts in 
order to rub off other buds which start from the 
stock so as to favor the buds which have been in- 
serted. 

After one year's growth in the nursery, the trees 
are ready for transplanting. Two-year-old peach 
trees are hardly worth handling. When the trees 
are not required the first year they are sometimes 



20 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

cut back to within two or three inches of the ground 
and are allowed to make a new growth the second 
year as much like the first year's growth as possible, 
This is the best way to handle them if they are to 
be kept at all. 

Another method of propagating peach trees, con- 
siderably practiced in recent years, is called June 
budding. This differs from the method already de- 
scribed only in the fact that the buds are set early 
in the season, usually in June, and are allowed to 
make growth the same year. One year is thus saved 
in the propagation of the tree, but a tree budded in 
June will necessarily be smaller when ready for 
market in November than the ordinary one-year-old 
peach tree which was budded a year ago the previous 
August. In case of emergency, there is no objection 
to using June budded trees, but they are not to be 
generally recommended. 

CLIMATE AND SOIL 

The peach thrives over a wide area of the North 
American continent. It is less hardy than the apple 
and keeps more southern latitudes. Still peaches 
are successfully grown as far north as Massachusetts, 
New York, and Ontario and they are commercially 
successful as far south as the orange belt. During 
recent years there has been a strong tendency to de- 
velop peach growing in certain special localities, par- 
ticularly in Georgia and Eastern Texas. Michigan, 
Maryland, Delaware and New Jersey are still gen- 
erally known as important peach growing states. 

It may be remarked in passing that these extra- 
ordinary extensions of the peach industry seem likely 
to be overdone. The margin of profit is none too 
large at present. When some of the great orchards 
now being planted come into full bearing, it is plain 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 21 

that someone will lose money. Only the men who 
are in a position to grow and handle the fruit most 
cheaply can stand the enormous competition which 
is likely to result. 

The peach prefers a comparatively light soil. A 
coarse sand or a sandy or gravelly loam, if it con- 
tains a reasonable amount of fertility, is always 
good. Heavy clay lands are inadmissable. Some- 
thing can be done, at least in an amateur way, to- 
ward adapting peaches to heavy soils by propagating 
them on plum roots. If some slow growing species 
of plum is used the peach tree is dwarfed to a cer- 
tain extent. This is desirable also for private gar- 
dens, and dwarf peach trees seem likely to be in 
greater demand in the future for such uses. The 
sand cherry seems to make a specially effective 
stock for dwarfing the peach or nectarine. 

PLANTING 

Peach trees are planted at all seasons of the year, 
depending somewhat on the soil and climate, but 
still more on the personal prejudices of the planter. 
In Georgia and Texas, January is a favorable month. 
For planting in Northern climates, spring planting 
is usually preferred. Where the soil is good and 
the winter weather apt to be not too rigorous, fall 
planting is reasonably safe. 

There has always been some discussion as to the 
proper distance apart for peach trees. The tendency 
now is to plant closer than formerly. Mr. Hale's 
famous orchards in Georgia have the trees set thir- 
teen feet apart each way. Fifteen feet apart may be 
regarded as ample space for trees which are to be 
systematically pruned. Twenty feet each way is the 
maximum distance. 



SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The soil should be in a reasonably good state of 
cultivation before the planting begins. Supposing it 
to be in good condition the planting can be largely 




A Model Low-Headed Peach Tree. 

done by team work. The customary way is to open 
out a deep furrow where each row is to stand. This, 
is done either with a lister which may be run twice 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 23 

in the same furrow, or with a large plow run both 
ways, thus opening up a deep dead furrow. This 
furrow for planting should be six to eight inches 
deep. The land is then marked off crosswise at right 
angles to these furrows, showing where each tree is 
to come in the row. 

The planting is done by three men working to- 
gether. One of them carries an armful of trees al- 
ready pruned for planting. At each intersection he 
sets up one of these trees in the place which it is to 
occupy. The tree is located carefully in the row by 
the other two men, one of whom sights in one direc- 
tion while the other sights along the row at right 
angles. These two men who have thus helped locate 
the tree which the first man carries, now step up 
with the shovels which form their equipment, and 
quickly cover the roots of the tree with two or three 
shovelfuls of earth apiece. This is tramped in place 
by the first man. Not more than fifteen seconds is 
required for all operations here described, and then 
the three men move on to the next tree. It is not 
necessary that the tree should be fully covered in 
with the shovels. As soon as the orchard is gone 
over in this way, the furrows are filled by plowing 
back with the plow, thus banking up against the 
trees and completely filling in. 

It is a matter of much convenience to have the 
trees properly pruned before taking them into the 
field. The best planters nowadays practice much 
more severe pruning than they did formerly, though 
very few of them go to the extreme known as the 
Stringfellow method. The usual practice is to cut 
off all straggling roots and to leave none of the 
main root branches more than three or four inches 
long. The larger or longer roots do no good. The 
top is usually cut back to a straight stick not more 



24 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

than two feet long. Eighteen inches is better. Some 
men prefer to cut trees down even as low as twelve 
inches. This is largely a matter of taste and of the 
methods to be subsequently followed. This pruning 
of the trees can be done much better in the shed be- 
fore planting than in the field after planting. It 
greatly facilitates the work of setting out trees. 

CULTIVATION 

There has been a good deal of argument in recent 
years as to whether it is better to cultivate an apple 
orchard or leave it in grass. But very few fruit 
growers have gone to the length of recommending 
grass for a peach orchard. Good annual cultivation 
is considered the best practice. In very rough land 
this rule may be mitigated, but for the most part 
some substitute for cultivation is undertaken. 

The best cultivation consists of a light plowing 
of the soil in the spring as soon as the land is dry 
enough, followed by frequent scarifications of the 
surface with such tools as the Acme cultivator, disk 
harrow, spring toothed harrow or the ordinary 
smoothing harrow. The nature of the soil chiefly 
determines the character of the implement to be 
used. The best peach growers cultivate their or- 
chards at least once a week during the middle of 
the summer and up to the ripening of the fruit. The 
drier the weather, the more frequent thorough and 
long continued should the cultivation be. If the 
weather is excessively dry this surface cultivation 
should be carried on until picking time. If the 
weather is not too droughty, cultivation can be sus- 
pended earlier, usually about July 1. 

In most orchards it is thought best to sow a cover 
crop at the time of the last cultivation. Various 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 25 

plants have been tested and recommended for cover 
crops, but those most useful with peaches are cow 
peas, crimson clover, mammoth clover, vetch, soy 
beans, and buckwheat. Cow peas are best for south- 
ern climates. Crimson clover is best for medium 
latitudes and poor soils, while soy beans, vetch or 
buckwheat seem to be best for the northern or- 
chards. 

In planting either cow peas or soy beans it is best 
to sow the seed in drills about three feet apart, allow- 
ing for one or two cultivations after planting of the 
cover crop. Clover, vetch or buckwheat may be 
sown broadcast. A liberal allowance of seed should 
be used in planting any cover crop for two reasons: 
(1) germination is likely to be poor at this time of 
the year, (2) a heavy stand is desired. 

A cover crop is valuable in many ways. Some of 
its various services are as follows: (1) to add humus 
to the soil, (2) to add nitrogen to the soil, this ser- 
vice being rendered chiefly by the leguminous plants, 
(3) to prevent freezing of the tree roots during the 
winter, (4) to prevent erosion or soil washing. This 
last is of great importance on some soils. 

It may be pointed out that some truck crop may 
be grown between the rows of peach trees during 
the first two years of the life of the orchard. Just 
what crops shall be selected for this purpose will 
depend on the locality and market. They should 
always be such crops as require cultivation. Irish 
potatoes, sweet potatoes, musk melons, cucumbers, 
beets, cabbage, cauliflower, may be specifically nam- 
ed. Whenever such crops are grown, however, care 
should be taken that they do not rob the soil of the 
fertility which should go to the growing peach trees. 
A liberal amount of fertilizer should be given for a 
truck c? op. It is not at all uncommon to see peach 



26 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



orchards ruined, or at least severely injured, by this 
stealing of plant food during the early years of tree 
growth. Unless the trees make good growth and 
form vigorous, thrifty tops during the first two 
years, the peach orchard might almost be as well 
abandoned. 

FERTILIZATION 

Considerable care is necessary in fertilizing peach 
trees. It is important to encourage vigorous growth 
during the first four or five years. After that the 
trees should be kept in good condition, excessive 
growth being avoided. During the first four years 
the average annual growth should not be less tha.i 
twelve inches and may be thirty-six inches in good 
soils. The best test for the condition of a peacn 
tree, however, is the color of the foliage, which 
should be a rich and dark bluish green. The leaflets 
should be large and somewhat crinkled. If the foli- 
age is sparse, small and yellow, the trees need at- 
tention, either in the way of cultivation or fertilizers, 
or both. 

While the trees are young they need fairly liberal 
supplies of nitrogen in order to keep up vigorous 
growth. After bearing begins the amount of nitro- 
gen should be reduced and the potash considerably 
increased. Barnyard manure should be used in mod- 
erate quantities, especially in the early years of 
growth. Commercial fertilizers are more suitable 
to peaches than perhaps to other fruit. Of course 
the amount of fertilizer used in every case will be 
governed largely by the natural fertility in the soil. 

In using fertilizers to promote wood growth, spe- 
cial attention should be paid to the value of early 
growth as compared with late growth. The objec- 
tion to barnyard manure is that it gives up its ni- 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 27 

trogen slowly throughout the year and is likely to 
keep the shoots growing until late in the fall. It is 
important that the wood should be allowed time to 
ripen. If it does not harden well it is almost sure 
to be injured during the winter. On this account 
nitrate of soda is particularly useful on peach trees. 
It can be applied early in the spring and will be used 
up long before midsummer. Voorhees recommends a 
mixture of three parts ground bone and two parts 
of muriate of potash for peach trees to be applied in 
annual dressings of five hundred to fifteen hundred 
pounds as required. This fertilizer would contain 
2 percent nitrogen, 13.6 percent total phosphoric 
acid and 20 percent potash. It may be mixed at 
home and is very rich, especially in potash. This is 
better adapted to fruiting trees than to newly planted 
orchards. Van Slyke recommends a fertilizer made' 
up of fifty pounds of nitrate of soda, one hundred 
pounds of dried blood, two hundred pounds of cot- 
ton seed meal, six hundred pounds of acid phos- 
phate, two hundred and forty pounds of muriate of 
potash. This is more evenly balanced and comes 
nearer being a general purpose fertilizer. It con- 
tains 2.7 percent nitrogen, 7.5 percent phosphoric 
acid, and 10.1 percent of potash. 

PRUNING 

Intelligent pruning is more important in handling 
peach trees than in growing apples. At least more 
careful and strict attention must be given. Pruning 
should begin the first year the trees are put out and 
should be continued annually. While some apple 
growers skip one or two years occasionally without 
pruning and suffer no apparent ill effects from it, 
the rapid growth of the peach tree makes such care- 
lessness very dangerous. 



28 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

The first problem is the formation of a proper 
head. The vase form is practically the only one of 
general utility. Suppose the tree to be headed back 
to a clean stem eighteen inches long when it is set 
out. If the season is good and the soil reasonably 
rich, a strong growth will be made the first year 
and there should be formed from three to six strong 




Peach Tree Severely Headed Back. 



branches. The ideal number is four. The first spring 
after planting, the trees are very carefully gone over 
with the pruning shears. Three to five branches are 
selected as symmetrically placed as possible about the 
trunk. The others are cut clean away. The branches 
chosen, of which the ideal number would be four, 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 29 

are cut back so as to be approximately of equal 
length. This length may vary from six inches to 
three feet, depending on the vigor of the tree, but 
in a moderately good tree it should not vary much 
from twenty inches. 

The succeeding spring the trees are gone over 
again and the frame work which was begun at the 
end of the first year, is filled out so as to give the 
tree its desired vase form as nearly as possible. Up- 
on each one of the four branches left the first year 
two or three branches are now allowed to remain. 
These are all cut back to a length varying from 
three to eighteen inches. The author prefers cutting 
to six or eight inches at this time. 

It should be said that the formation of the head 
will be greatly facilitated by a certain amount of 
summer pruning, usually done the first week in July. 
At that time green shoots may be removed by hand, 
thus favoring the growth of more desirable branches. 
This summer pruning is especially valuable during 
the second year. 

The third year's pruning is very much like the 
second. If anything the year-old shoots should be 
cut back more severely than before. The writer is 
aware that the pruning here prescribed is more dras- 
tic than what is usually practiced, but experience has 
shown it to be successful. 

After the heads are formed and the trees are bear- 
ing fruit, a somewhat different system of pruning is 
required. Heading in has beccme still more im- 
portant, but rather more difficul to carry out. At 
the spring pruning one has to estimate the cutting 
back somewhat by the number of fruit buds in sight. 
If the tree is prepared to bear a crop there must of 
course be left fruit buds enough for this purpose. 



30 



SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



Ordinarily the fruiting shoots can be cut back half 
their length. This will be an advantage not only in 



'vilv. & 




fflQwP & 




ip/iV, ^ tfr* 










! 'f 


^fe| 


•J* 




S^SM' 







A High-Headed, Unpruned Peach Tree. 

restraining the growth of the tree, but also in thin- 
ning the crop of fruit. At the same time all weak, 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 31 

straggling, broken or otherwise imperfect shoots 
should be removed altogether or if they are favor- 
ably placed they should be cut back to two buds. 




A Low-Headed Peaeli Tree, Pruned Back 
the Previous Spring* 

Especially on old trees it is always desirable to open 
up the heads by more or less cutting out of this kind 
every spring. 



32 



SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 




Twigs from Pruned and Unpruned Peach Trees. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 33 

In case the crop has been lost by winter freezing 
or late spring frosts, it is nearly always best to take 
advantage of the opportunity to head in the tree 
rather severely. Experiments conducted by the 
writer agree with the general experience of peach 
growers that such heading in may go to the extent 
of taking out practically all the one-year-old wood. 
If the tree is not seriously injured, it is safe to cut 
back into two or even three year old wood rather 
freely. If the tree is very weak it will not bear such 
severe cutting, however, and the pruning should be 
confined to the removal of the one-year-old wood 
down to within three or four buds at the base of 
each shoot. 

Some summer pruning on old trees, especially 
when they are in vigorous condition, is desirable. It 
should be given the first week in July or the last 
week in June. This consists in the removal of weak 
shoots which are choking up the center of the tree. 
Heading in of vigorous growing shoots at this time 
of the year is not to be recommended. 

DISEASES AND INSECTS 

The principal diseases attacking the peach are the 
yellows, leaf curl and the brown rot. 

The best treatment for the yellows is to dig out 
and burn every affected tree just as soon as discov- 
ered. It is not usually safe to replant with peach 
in the same spot, at least for several years. The 
infection of the yellows seems to remain in the soil 
and to attack the new tree. 

Leaf curl is very bad in some sections, not 
infrequently defoliating the trees entirely in mid- 
summer. Using strong Bordeaux mixture early in 
the spring before the leaves start is especially rec- 



34 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

ommended. A second application should be given 
just before the blossoms open. 

The brown rot or monilia, which shows itself 
chiefly on the fruit, but which also attacks the shoots 
and foliage, may be repressed to some extent by 
treatment with Bordeaux mixture already recom- 
mended. Careful pruning of the tree and careful 
thinning of the fruit also tend to mitigate the rav- 
ages of this disease. Gathering and burning the 
diseased fruit as soon as the disease appears may be 
worth while, or it may not. It depends largely on 
circumstances, especially on the value of the crop, 
and the cost of labor. 

The principal insect attacking the peach are the 
borer and curculio. 

The peach borer attacks the trunks especially at 
or just below the surface of the ground. Digging 
the insects out with a sharp knife or killing them 
with a wire is one of the best remedies and is al- 
ways recommended where the borers have gained 
lodgment. Something can be done to check the 
attacks of the borer by drawing the soil away from 
the trunks of the trees in the fall and banking it 
back rather high in the spring. Various nostrums 
are advertised for killing peach borers, but are usual- 
ly of small account. 

PICKING AND MARKETING 

Picking and marketing peaches is discussed fully 
in the Brother Jonathan Series No. 5. We may sim- 
ply point out here that the principal packages for 
handling peaches are the Georgia six-basket carrier, 
the Jersey peach basket, and the Climax basket. 

The Georgia carrier is the best for long distance 
shipping. It contains three four-quart baskets be- 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 35 

low, separated from three similar baskets above by 
a slat staging. These crates cost from fifteen to 
twenty dollars a hundred, complete. 

The Jersey basket is very satisfactory for local 
markets or short shipments. It is made in various 
sizes holding from four to sixteen quarts. The six- 
teen quart or half-bushel size is most commonly 
used and is to be recommended. 

The Climax peach basket holding one-fifth or one- 
fourth of a bushel is used in some sections, partic- 
ularly in Michigan. It is a good package for fancy 
fruit or for long distance express shipments where 
refrigerator car service is not employed. 

The commercial peach crop is now largely handled 
in refrigerator express cars. This makes it very dif- 
ficult for small growers to reach a distant market 
with any satisfaction. It usually costs them more to 
ship their fruit in unrefrigerated general express 
cars and when it reaches the market it has to com- 
pete with fruit in much better quality brought in 
by refrigerator service. 

VARIETIES 

There are a great many good varieties of peaches. 
So many that it is impossible to describe half of 
them here. For the most part, however, the planting 
of new orchards is confined to a few varieties. More 
than half the trees planted the country over during 
the last five years have been of a single variety — 
Elberta. In many sections this one variety has 
constituted over nine-tenths of all the plantings. 

In selecting varieties for market only a few should 
be chosen. Two varieties for a small orchard and 
three for a moderate sized orchard are about right. 
Of course large commercial enterprises, covering 



36 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

hundreds of acres, can handle several varieties; but 
it is a good rule to choose one or two good sorts 
and to push them for all they are worth. 

In the home garden the selection of varieties 
should be given much wider range. There should 
be one or two trees of almost every good variety 
which the local nurseryman can supply. There 
should be early and late sorts, yellow and white 
sorts, freestones and clings. 

It seems worth while to draw special attention to 
the white peaches. There has long been a preju- 
dice in favor of the yellow-flesh fruit, but this is 
now disappearing to some extent. The real con- 
noisseurs have long picked the white peach for their 
own eating, and as the public gets more peaches and 
learns better what to choose, the preference for the 
white fruit spreads. This preference has recently 
received a special impetus through the introduction 
of several fine new white-fleshed varieties of the 
Chinese Cling group — particularly Waddell, Cham- 
pion and Belle of Georgia. 

The following list comprises the varieties prin- 
cipally grown: 

Alexander — White, semi-cling, medium size, white 
with red cheek, quality fair, very early. 

Beer's Smock — Yellow, free, medium to large, 
oval, yellow marked with red, quality fair, late. 

Bequett Cling — White cling, size medium to large, 
season medium early. 

Bequett Free — White, free, size medium to large, 
medium early. 

Bilyeu — White, free, size medium, round, quality 
fair, season very late. 

Brandywine — Freestone, size large, quality fair, 
medium early. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 37 

Chair's Choice — Yellow, free, size large, quality 
good, season medium. 

Champion — White, free, size large, quality good, 
season medium. 

Chili (Hill's Chili) — Yellow, free, small to medium, 
quality fair, early. 

Chinese Cling — White, cling, large to very large, 
quality good, season medium. Notable as the type 
of a new group of peaches. 

Columbia — Yellow, free, medium size, fair quality, 
medium, late. 

Crosby — iellow, free, small to medium, quality 
fair to good, season medium to late. 

Early Crawford — Yellow, free, medium to large, 
good quality, early to medium ripening. One of the 
most popular early varieties. 

Elberta — Yellow, free, large, quality fair to good, 
midseason or a trifle later. Certainly the most pop- 
ular and profitable variety now known, but has been 
so much planted that it should be generally avoided 
by market growers now setting new orchards. 

Emma — Freestone, large, quality good, medium 
late. 

Fitzgerald — Yellow, free, size medium, quality 
fair to good, rather early. This variety has been 
highly recommended of late for planting in northern 
latitudes on account of the hardiness of the tree. 

Foster — Yellow, free, very large, good, indeed one 
of the best; midseason. 

Belle of Georgia — White, free, medium to large, 
quality good to extra good, season medium late. One 
of the best new varieties. 

Greensboro — White, semi-free, large, medium 
quality, moderately early. 

Hale — White, semi-free, small, quality fair, early. 
Formerly popular, but not much planted now. 



38 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

Heath Cling — White, cling, size large, quality best, 
very late. A fine peach, especially for canning. 

Hiley — White, free, small to medium, good, early. 
A good early market sort. 

Hynes (Hynes' Surprise) — White, semi-free, size 
small, quality fair to good; late. 

Kalamazoo — Yellow, free, size medium, quality 
good, medium early. 

Late Crawford — Yellow, free, large, quality good 
to best, late. One of the most popular varieties, but 
now largely supplanted by Elberta. 

Lemon Cling — Yellow, cling, size large, quality 
best, mid-season. A very fine peach, and used for 
canning, especially in California. 

Lemon Free — Yellow, free, large size, quality 
good, late. 

Mamie Ross — Yellow, cling, medium size, quality 
good, early. 

Mountain Rose — White, free, size medium, quality 
good, early. 

Old Mixon — White, either free or cling, large, good 
quality, medium late. Two varieties are sold under 
this name, one cling, the other nearly freestone. To 
be more exact we might say that Old Mixon varies 
very greatly, so that there are really several vari- 
eties passing under this name. Now being supplant- 
ed to some extent by Belle of Georgia. 

Rivers — White, free, medium size, good, early. 
This is an old English variety, formerly popular. 

Salway — Yellow, free, size good, quality moderate, 
late. 

Smock — Yellow, free, medium size, quality fair to 
good, season late. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 39 

Sneed — White, cling, medium size, quality poor, 
very early. Planted to some extent on account of 
its very early ripening, but is not worth growing. 

St. John — Yellow, free, size medium to large, good, 
early. 

Stump — White, free, large, good, medium late. 

Thurber — White, free, medium size, good, early. 

Tillotson — White, free, medium to large, good, 
early. 

Triumph — Yellow, semi-cling, small, poor quality, 
early. 

Troth — White, free, small, poor, medium early. 

Waddell — White, free, early or medium. A good 
early market sort. 

Waterloo — White, semi-cling, small, fair quality, 
very early. 

Wheatland — Yellow, free, large, good, mid-season. 




40 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The Plum 

The plum has certain advantages over the peach. 
It can be grown over a wider range of territory. 
It fills a longer season. It is adapted to more di- 
verse uses. It ought to be more widely grown. If 
plums could be properly presented to the general 
market, the demand for them would be greatly in- 
creased. 

PROPAGATION 

The plum is propagated from seed, by buds, and 
by grafts. It may also be propagated in other ways, 
but these three methods are used commercially. 

Plums do not come true from seed except in rare 
cases. The seedlings are grown therefore either to 
secure new varieties or to furnish stocks upon which 
named varieties are budded or grafted. Plum seed 
is rather hard to secure in commercial quantities. 
The usual source of supply is France. 

Plum seeds are handled exactly like the peach 
seed. That is, they are either planted in the fall 
where the nursery rows are to be, or they are strat- 
ified until spring, when they are planted in the 
same way. This stratification or burying of the 
seed is practiced exactly as described for the peach. 

On account of the difficulty of securing seed, very 
few nurserymen grow their own stocks. These 
stocks are largely imported from France. The chief 
exception to this rule of buying stocks comes in the 
practice of budding plum on peach roots. The 
peach makes a first rate stock for plums, especially 
on light lands and in southern latitudes. The peach 
seedlings are grown in nursery rows exactly as 
when they are to be budded with peach buds. At 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 41 

the proper time they are budded instead with the 
desired varieties of plums. 

There are many different kinds of stocks used for 
plums in this country, having very diverse charac- 
ters. It is important that some note should be made 
here of these different kinds. The most important 
stocks are as follows: Myrobalan, peach, Mariana, 
Americana, Apricot, and sand cherry, named ap- 
proximately in the order of their use. The Myrob- 
alan stock is the one chiefly imported from France, 
and the one best adapted to the propagation of all 
kinds of plums. The peach stock is grown from 
seed in the nurseries where it is to be budded, as 
explained above. The Mariana is grown from cut- 
tings in the Southern states and claims cheapness 
as its chief advantage. The Americana stocks are 
grown from the seed of native plums and are used 
chiefly in the prairie states. They make excellent 
stocks, especially for native plums. They have a 
considerable dwarfing effect upon the varieties of 
the Japanese or Domestica groups. The apricot 
stocks are used to some extent, especially in Cali- 
fornia, where the apricot seed may be secured cheap- 
ly from the canneries. They have about the same 
value as the peach stocks. The sand cherry has not 
been used much except in an experimental way, but 
has been shown to have important good qualities. 
It makes good trees in the nursery and the plums 
rooted upon it are hardy. It also has a marked 
effect in dwarfing most varieties of plums, and is 
indeed the most promising dwarfing stock for this 
class of fruit. 

In the majority of nurseries plums are shield- 
budded in precisely the same manner as described 
for budding the peach. The work is done at the 
same time of the year except that certain stocks, 



42 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

specifically the Americana and sand cherries, require 
early budding. June budding is occasionally prac- 
ticed with plums, but is less successful than with 
peaches. The only varieties for which June bud- 
ding can be at all recommended are those of the 
Japanese and Japanese hybrid classes. 

Grafting is sometimes employed in the propaga- 
tion of plums. Where it can be conveniently used, 
it is altogether satisfactory. Some nurserymen re- 
gard it as a cheaper and safer method of propaga- 
tion than budding. For the most part the practice 
of propagating plums by grafting is confined to 
Minnesota, Iowa, North Dakota and that region 
generally where the Americana stock is used. The 
work may be done either by the whip graft method 
or by side grafting. In either case the grafting is 
done in the cellar during November, December, and 
January, and the grafts are laid away in moist saw- 
dust or are buried in sand until spring. They are 
then planted out in nursery rows four to six inches 
apart and are given good cultivation until they are 
ready for transplanting. 

Plum trees are transplanted at one or two years 
old, very seldom at three years old. The strong 
growing varieties of the Japanese and Japanese 
hybrid groups are best transplanted when one year 
old from the bud. This applies also to the strong 
growing nursery trees of the Wildgoose group and 
in some cases also to trees of the Americana group. 
The varieties of Domestica or European plums are 
usually better held in the nursery until two years 
old. This applies to most of the Americana and 
such other varieties as do not make a strong branch- 
ing growth during the first year. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 43 

Where the plum trees are allowed to remain the 
second year in the nursery, special care should be 
taken to form the heads at the proper height and 
with due balance of branches. 

SOIL AND CLIMATE 

Plums will thrive in almost all soils and climates, 
providing suitable varieties are chosen, providing 
they are propagated on proper stocks, and providing 
they have reasonable care. On light soils the Jap- 
anese and Wildgoose varieties prove most satisfac- 
tory. In alluvial river bottoms the varieties of the 
Americana, Wildgoose, Wayland, and Chicasaw 
groups are most at home. On gravelly hillsides on 
loams and clays the Domestica varieties are apt to 
succeed best. We have already indicated that peach 
stocks are best for light soils. The Myrobalan stock 
is probably best of those named for heavy soils, 
although such special stocks as St. Julien or the 
so-called horse plum may prove still better in crit- 
ical cases. The peach stock does not succeed in a 
heavy soil nor in Northern climates. 

PLANTING 

Different kinds of plums have such diverse habits 
of growth that it is rather hard to give a single 
rule for planting and managing them. Some vari- 
eties in good soil grow to a spread of branches of 
forty feet. Other plum trees reach a maximum 
growth with a spread of ten feet, or even less. 
There are striking differences amongst the commer- 
cial varieties so that one must regulate his planting 
to some extent according to the kinds chosen. There 
is undoubtedly a strong tendency at the present time, 
especially marked amongst the best growers, to 



44 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

plant trees closer than formerly. This is the same 
tendency which we find manifest amongst the 
planters of peach and apple trees. We have already 
remarked on Mr. Hale's plan of planting peach 
trees thirteen feet apart, and the opinion has been 
expressed that fifteen feet apart is ample room for 
most peach trees. In like manner we may say very 
confidently that fifteen feet apart each way is ample 
space for plum trees, though the writer is aware 
that this statement will be criticised by some. Under 
a proper system of management, twelve feet in each 
direction is quite sufficient, and many of the stand- 
ard market varieties can be handled when planted 
ten feet apart. For most persons, however, and 
under careless systems of pruning, twelve to fifteen 
feet should be recommended. 

CULTIVATION AND GENERAL CARE 

The plum orchard requires the same kind of cul- 
tivation as the peach orchard and for the same rea- 
sons. It has been customary in former times to 
enclose the plum orchard with chicken wire and 
make it the scene of the chicken yard. Where a 
limited number of trees are grown this is fairly 
satisfactory. The theory is that the chickens col- 
lect many of the insects attacking the plums, and 
particularly the plum curculio. When the chickens 
are allowed to run amongst the plum trees, it is 
usual to omit any other cultivation. This is a fair- 
ly satisfactory method of handling plum trees in 
limited quantities for a home supply of fruit, but it 
cannot be undertaken on an extensive commercial 
scale. 

One peculiarity which plums exhibit in a some- 
what striking degree is that of self sterility of the 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 45 

blossoms. It has been shown by extensive scien- 
tific experiment and any amount of practical ex- 
perience that many, or even most, varieties of plums 
will not bear fruit when standing by themselves. 
The blossoms require pollen from flowers of some 
other varieties in order that they may be success- 




A Well-Kept Flum Orchard. 



fully fecundated. Unless this fecundation, pollina- 
tion, or impregnation (whatever one chooses to 
call it) is successfully accomplished, the seed does 
not develop in the plum, and if the seed does not 
develop, the fruit also fails to develop. It is neces- 
sary therefore to see that the varieties are some- 
what mixed in the orchard. Two or more differ- 



46 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

ent varieties should be placed in adjacent rows, or 
at the most there should not be more than four or 
five rows of a single variety before one of another 
variety is planted. As there are considerable differ- 
ences in the blossoming season of the different va- 
rieties, it is important to arrange this mixture of 
different kinds so that those which blossom at the 
same time may stand next to each other. 

Plums require fully as much plant food as peach 
trees and for the most part of the same kinds. It 
is safe to use the formulas recommended for fer- 
tilizing peaches also upon the plum and to apply 
the same quantities. 

PRUNING 

At the time of planting, the plum trees may be 
headed back in the way recommended for peach 
trees. In other words, they are headed to a single 
straight stem and this stem is shortened in to a 
length of twelve to twenty-four inches. This method 
is almost inevitable in handling one-year-old trees. 
When the trees are transplanted at the age of two 
years, the heads should be properly formed in the 
nursery, as suggested under the subject of propa- 
gation. It is then necessary at pruning time only 
to cut back the side branches which have already 
been formed and to leave the whole tree in such 
a condition that it will make a well balanced top. 

The head is formed on the young tree much in 
the same manner as that described for peaches. 
Considerable variations have to be made, it is true, 
with different kinds of plums, owing to their great 
diversity of growth. The Japanese varieties like 
Chabot and Satsuma and Red June may be man- 
aged on almost precisely the same lines as peach 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 47 

trees. On the other hand the Americana varieties 
and the Damsons, which make thick bushy thorny 
heads, have to be allowed their own willful way 
to a much larger extent. With these thick tops the 
pruning consists largely in cutting out the crowd- 
ing branches and keeping the head partially opened. 

Summer pruning is particularly desirable with 
plums. Probably it would be best with most varie- 
ties to make the principal pruning of the year come 
in June or not later than the first week in July. 
Some pruning during the dormant season, which 
means usually in March, is also desirable. When 
the principal pruning is not given in June, there 
will be, of course, more need of attention at the 
customary March pruning. 

Some excellent plum growers have a system of 
pruning which consists in the annual shearing of 
the top of the tree. All branches are cut off nearly 
level on top, as when a man's hair is cut pompadour, 
or as when a hedge is pruned. This is not a bad 
method especially with the Domestica varieties and 
the Damsons. It cannot be recommended for the 
varieties of the Japanese class. 

DISEASES AND INSECTS 

The plum tree is subject to the attack of various 
diseases, several of which assume economic import- 
ance at times. For the most part, however, only 
the black knot and the brown rot of the fruit cut 
any figure. 

The black knot has long been considered the 
special bane of the plum grower. One sees not in- 
frequently plum trees ruined by this disease and 
sometimes whole orchards are swept away. It is 
the almost universal experience of careful fruit- 



48 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

growers, however, that a well managed plum or- 
chard suffers very little from this disease. It has 
been repeatedly shown that the black knot can be 
controlled by proper management. In the first 
place the seriously diseased trees and the wild 
plums or cherries standing in the fence rows should 
be cut out altogether and burned. After that care- 
ful treatment with Bordeaux mixture, especially in 
the early spring before the buds start, will do some- 
thing to check the disease. The most important 
means of control, however, lies in the timely use 
of the pruning shears. Every plum tree should be 
gone over during the last half of June, when the 
new knots first begin to show, and all knots should 
be removed and burned. If it is not thought too 
expensive, a second examination of the trees should 
be made about the middle of July, all knots being 
once more removed and burned. At the time of the 
customary pruning in March, when all the remain- 
ing knots can be easily seen, special care should be 
taken once more to remove and burn every vestige 
of a black knot. While this sounds in the telling 
like a considerable amount of work, it really is not 
so. It can all be done by any boy with sharp eyes. 
A good man can easily go over one hundred trees 
a day under ordinary circumstances. 

The brown rot which attacks the plums just as 
they are about to ripen is the same as that which 
injures large quantities of peaches. The treatment 
is also the same. The trees should be kept in good 
condition, the fruit thinned, and Bordeaux mixture 
should be used. Early applications are especially 
advised. 

Another disease which is sometimes of consider- 
able importance to plum orchards, but which is dis- 
tinctly less destructive than the two already men- 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 49 

tioned, is the shot-hole fungus. This fungus kills 
small spots in the leaves, and these spots fall away 
leaving the foliage with the appearance of having 
been riddled by a charge of bird shot. At times 
this fungus is so effective in its operations that 
trees are nearly defoliated in mid-summer. At such 
times the results are serious. Careful spraying 
early in June with Bordeaux mixture, will reduce 
the amount of damage from this fungus also. 

It should be particularly noted that in spraying 
plum trees with all ordinary fungicides and insec- 
ticides special care must be taken. The foliage of 
plums is particularly liable to injury and this is 
most emphatically true of the Japanese varieties. 
It is practically necessary to use Bordeaux mixture 
or Paris green at not more than one-half the 
strength employed on apples. Special care must 
be taken to see that an excess of lime is always 
present in the Bordeaux mixture, and the following 
formula will give such results: Four pounds of cop- 
per sulphate, six pounds of good lime, one hundred 
gallons of water. 

Only one insect of importance attacks the plum 
and that is the curculio. It is usually regarded as 
a scourge and many persons consider it alone to 
make plum growing impossible. The scheme of 
planting plum trees in the chicken yards for the 
purpose of circumventing this insect has already 
been mentioned and may be safely recommended. 
Spraying with arsenical poisons will reduce the 
damage to some extent. The treatment usually 
recommended is to jar the plum trees in the early 
morning, shaking down the semi-dormant beetles 
upon a sheet or some other receptacle spread to 
catch them. Special machines or curculio catchers 



50 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

are made for this work and are to be highly recom- 
mended where a hundred or more trees are grown. 
It has been the experience of the writer, however, 
that in nearly all cases the work of the curculio is a 
negligible factor in plum growing. This may sound 
like a rash statement, but it is supported by the 
experience of years. The fact is the work of the 
curculio is nearly all done early in the season be- 
fore the time of the so-called June drop. During 
the month of June growers expect a considerable 
fall of young fruit from the plum trees. The writer 
has shown in extensive studies carried on some 
years ago, that this June drop is due to various 
causes, amongst which the lack of pollination and 
the work of the plum curculio stand pre-eminent. 
When this June drop is over a considerable propor- 
tion of the curculio punctured plums have fallen 
to the ground. Many of these which have remained 
are already marked for failure. After all this it is 
still necessary in a large majority of cases, to thin 
the remaining fruit by hand. During this operation 
of thinning there are removed practically all the 
punctured plums still hanging on the trees. The 
curculio is therefore to a certain extent a help in 
thinning the fruit from over-burdened plum trees. 
In fact it is the writer's experience that almost 
without exception the curculio is of more assistance 
than damage. 

VARIETIES 

The list of varieties of plums grown is compar- 
atively longer than in any other section of fruits, 
except the apple. Certain varieties which are very 
valuable in one part of the country are of no use 
in other places. The selection of proper varieties 
therefore becomes a difficult matter. One should 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 51 

always take great care in selecting plums to learn 
what varieties are successful in his neighborhood. 
A very good general idea can usually be formed by 
observing what group each variety belongs to. 
Thus the Japanese plums are the leaders for some 




Crate of Plums. 



localities, the Domesticas for others, while in Iowa 
and Dakota the Americanas alone can be relied on. 
In the following list only a few of the leading 
sorts have been named, and these have been chosen 
with a view to covering all parts of the country. 



52 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

In each case the group to which the variety be- 
longs has been indicated in parenthesis immediately 
following the name. 

Abundance (Jap.) — Tree upright, unhealthy and 
short lived, fruit medium to large, red, sweet, qual- 
ity best of the Japanese, medium early. 

American Eagle (Americana) — Tree vigorous and 
healthy, hardy, size medium, quality fair to good, 
medium early. 

Apple (Jap.) — Tree spreading, vigorous, healthy, 
fairly productive, fruit large, red, fair to good, 
medium late. A promising new variety. 

Arch Duke (Domestica) — Tree good, fruit blue, 
medium large, good quality, early. 

Bavay (Reine Claude) — Much like Green Gage, 
but later and larger; sometimes called Late Green 
Gage. Tree moderately vigorous and prolific, fruit 
round, green, very best quality, specially fine for 
canning, late. Where this plum will succeed it is 
one of the best varieties known, but it is hardly ever 
a profitable market sort. 

Blue Imperatrice (Domestica) — One of the best 
large blue plums. Tree good, fruit large and good, 
medium late. 

Burbank (Jap.) — Tree sprawling, vigorous, healthy, 
early bearing and very productive, fruit large, round, 
slightly pointed, red, fine in appearance, good qual- 
ity, especially for canning, midseason or later. This 
is by all odds the best of the Japanese plums. 

Chabot (Jap.) — Tree vase-form, good, prolific; 
fruit medium size, round, somewhat pointed, light 
red, good medium late. One of the profitable Jap- 
anese varieties. 

Chalco (Hybrid) — Tree vigorous, rather sprawl- 
ing, fruit large, oblate, red, quality fair to good. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 53 

Cheney (Nigra) — Tree upright, extremely hardy, 
fruit small to medium, oval compressed, dark red, 
quality good when fully ripe. One of the best vari- 
eties for extremely cold localities. 

Climax (Hybrid) — Tree rather upright, moderate 
bearer; fruit medium size, rather heart shaped, red, 
freestone, quality good, early. 

Cluster (Damson) — Tree fairly vigorous, healthy 
and very prolific; fruit medium size, blue, good 
quality, medium late. 

De Soto (Americana) — Tree hardy, rather small; 
fruit rather small, red, quality good. A favorite 
variety in Iowa and Minnesota. 

Englebert (Domestica) — Tree vigorous, upright, 
prolific; fruit blue, medium size, quality fair to good. 
A good market sort. 

Excelsior (Hyb'rid) — Tree willowy, slender; fruit 
medium size, heart shape, red, good, medium early. 
Has proved especially adapted to extreme southern 
latitudes. 

Field (Domestica) — Tree rather small, fruit blue, 
or purplish, medium size, good quality, early. 

Forest Garden (Americana) — Tree vigorous and 
hardy; fruit round, red, good, ripening mid-season. 

Frogmore (Damson) — Tree smallish, healthy; fruit 
medium size, blue, good, late. A profitable sort. 

German Prune (Domestica) — Fruit blue, freestone, 
small, long compressed, fair to good, late. A profit- 
able market sort, but there are better. 

Georgeson (Jap.) — Tree large, spreading, prolific; 
fruit large, yellow, good quality, fine for canning. 
One of the best canning plums, but undeservedly un- 
popular on account of its yellow color. 

Golden Beauty (Wayland) — Tree healthy, spread- 
ing, prolific; fruit small to medium, yellow, good, 
late. Specially suited to Texas and the South. 



54 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

Golden Drop (Domestica) — Coe's Golden Drop. 
Silver Prune. Tree large, rather straggling, late 
bearing; fruit large, egg-shaped, yellow, good, me- 
dium to late. 

Gonzales (Hybrid) — Tree a good grower, but not 
very healthy, and not hardy in the northern states; 
fruit large, red, good to best, midseason. One of 
the most promising new hybrid plums. 

Grand Duke (Domestica) — Tree good, early and 
prolific bearing for a domestica; fruit large, blue, 
good, medium late. Worth planting. 

Green Gage (Domestica) — Tree small, slow grow- 
ing; fruit small, green, extra good, medium ripen- 
ing. An old favorite. 

Gueii (Domestica) — Tree good; fruit blue, medium 
size, fair to good quality, midseason. A profitable 
market plum of its class. 

Hale (Jap.) — Tree very strong grower, late bear- 
ing and not prolific; fruit medium to large, good. 

Hawkeye (Americana) — Tree medium size, pro- 
lific; fruit medium size, red, slightly flattened, good, 
medium late. One of the best of the group. 

Italian Prune (Domestica) — Fellenburg. Tree 
round-topped, rather small and slow glowing, pro 
lific after reaching a certain age; fruit blue, egg- 
shaped, large, good, late. A very profitable sort in 
some sections. 

Jefferson (Domestica) — Tree straggling and un- 
healthy, not very prolific; fruit medium to large, 
yellow with red cheek; quality very best, early. 
Commonly regarded as the standard of quality. 

Kelsey (Jap.) — Fruit large, heart-shaped, yellow, 
freestone. Tree is not hardy enough to succeed 
north of Louisiana, though it occasionally bears 
further north. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 55 

Lombard (Domestica) — Tree hardy and prolific; 
fruit medium size, purplish, quality fair to good, 
early. A popular plum because it stands neglect. 
There are many better varieties. 

Miner (Miner) — Tree hardy and prolific; fruit 
small, red, good, medium late. 

Pottawattomie (Chicasaw) — Tree healthy, fairly 
hardy; fruit medium size, brilliant red, good, me- 
dium late. 

Red June (Jap.) — Tree vase-form, prolific; fruit 
medium size, dark red, quality fair, early. A profit- 
able early market plum where the Japanese varie- 
ties succeed. 

Satsuma (Jap.) — Tree spreading, vigorous; fruit 
large, red outside and in, good quality, fine for can- 
ning, late. A queer variety, bearing profusely in 
some neighborhoods, and almost sterile in others; 
a very profitable sort where it succeeds. 

Wayland (Wayland) — Tree vigorous and healthy, 
prolific, fruit small, red, good, extra fine for pre- 
serving or jelly making, late. 

Weaver (Americana) — Tree sound and good; fruit 
medium size, red, good, medium season. 

Wickson (Hybrid) — Tree upright, vigorous, rather 
tender in bud, a somewhat uncertain bearer; fruit 
large, heart-shaped, red, partially free-stone, quality 
variable, medium late. Has sometimes proved a 
profitable market plum, but generally uncertain. 

Wildgoose (Wildgoose) — Tree spreading, vigor- 
ous, prolific; fruit medium size, brilliant red, good, 
midseason. One of the best and most profitable 
varieties in many localities, especially in central 
states and middle latitudes. 

Wolf (Americana) — Tree hardy and prolific, fruit 
small to medium, good, midseason. 



56 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



Wyant (Americana) — Tree hardy and prolific; 
fruit medium size, red, good quality, midseason. 

Yellow Egg (Domestica) — Tree upright, not over 
healthy, moderately productive; fruit large to very 
large; yellow, egg-shaped, good, especially for can- 
ning. 




FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 57 



The Cherry 

It appears to an enthusiastic horticulturist, of 
course, that all kinds of fruit-growing are more or 
less neglected. Personally I am prone to see op- 
portunities in plum growing which no one else can 
appreciate. But in all seriousness it can be said that 
the cherry is more neglected in proportion to its 
merits than any other orchard fruit known in 
America. Sour cherries are really very easy to grow 
and thrive in nearly all soils and climates. They 
bear early and regularly. The fruit is very much 
enjoyed by everyone and always commands a high 
price in the market. Under these circumstances it 
is surprising how very few orchards there are on 
which any attempt is made at commercial cherry 
growing, and even more surprising to see how few 
farms there are on which enough cherries are grown 
for home use. 

PROPAGATION 

The propagation of the cherry is in a general way 
similar to that of the peach. Stocks are grown 
from seed and these are budded with the desired 
varieties. The details of the work, differ consider- 
ably. 

The Mazzard cherry is usually recommended as a 
stock, but as a matter of fact the Mahaleb cherry 
is the one chiefly used in America. It is cheaper, 
grows more readily, works easier in the nursery 
and has many other practical advantages. It is true 
that these advantages are mostly in favor of the 
nurseryman rather than the orchardist, but there is 
not much to show that the fruit-grower would be 
better off if his cherry trees could be budded on 



58 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

Mazzard stocks as the books say they ought to be. 
In the Northwestern states the seedlings of the com- 
mon Morello species, or sour cherries, are used for 
budding or grafting. They are very hardy and 
make excellent trees. Where they can be grown 
and budded cheaply there is nothing against them. 
Some of the wild native cherries are occasionally 
used for stocks particularly the bird, pigeon or pin 
cherry (Primus pennsylvanica). This is extremely 
hardy and fairly easy to work. It seems to be a 
satisfactory stock, especially in Northern climates. 

For the most part the cherry stocks, particularly 
the Mahalebs, are imported from Europe. Some- 
times the cherry seed is imported and the stocks 
grown in this country. Whether the stocks are to 
be grown from the imported or native seed, the pits 
are either planted as soon as they are ripe or they 
should be kept moist (not wet) and may be strati- 
fied early in the fall. This stratification is carried 
out as explained under the propagation of the peach. 
It is important that the seed should never be allow- 
ed to become stone dry. 

The seeds are planted in the nursery row either 
in the fall or spring, the rows being three to three 
and one-half feet apart and the seedlings three to 
six inches apart in the row. Or the seeds are plant- 
ed in a seed bed much more thickly, with the rows 
eight or nine inches apart and are cultivated here 
for the first year. At the end of the first year, 
either in fall or spring, these seedlings are trans- 
planted from the seed bed to the nursery row, where 
they are budded the following August. In any case 
it is unusual to bud cherry stocks the first year. 
The pin cherry referred to above is an exception 
to this rule. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 59 

The buds are inserted in precisely the same man- 
ner as practiced with the peach and plum. The 
cherry is occasionally root grafted either by the 
whip-graft union or the side-graft union, and these 
methods are entirely successful. It is not often 
practiced, however. 

SOIL AND CLIMATE 

The cherry adapts itself readily to many kinds of 
soils, though it does not flourish well in extremely 
heavy nor in extremely light soils. Rich loose fer- 
tile gravelly loam is the best. The cherry does not 
succeed well in southern latitudes, being more at 
home in the north. Some varieties are hardy far 
to the northward, in this respect surpassing even 
the hardiest apples. The sweet cherry is particu- 
larly fastidious with regard to soil and climate. At 
any rate it is not successfully grown except in very 
limited areas in North America. 

PLANTING 

The actual work of planting a cherry tree is per- 
formed as in planting a peach tree. When a con- 
siderable number are to be set out, it is best to 
lighten the labor by using a plow as recommended 
in the chapter on peach growing. Trees may be 
transplanted either at one year old or two years 
old. If they are carried two years in the nursery, 
pains should be taken to head them low. The pres- 
ent fashion prevailing in nearly all the American 
nurseries is to head the trees too high. It is de- 
sirable that the head should be formed within twelve 
or eighteen inches of the ground, although it is 
much commoner to see them headed at three to five 
feet. This plan of low heading is especially import- 



60 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

ant in the Western states. When one year old trees 
are bought from the nursery the planter has the 
privilege of heading them to suit themself. When 
the trees are received they should be prepared by 
pruning the roots and tops as described for peaches. 
That is, all loose broken roots should be cut away 
and all main root branches up to within three or 
four inches of the trunk. The top should then be 
cut back to a straight stick eighteen inches long, 
if the tree is a yearling, or if the tree is a two-year- 
old, the branches should all be cut back to three 
buds each and the leader shortened in as much as 
possible. 

Fall planting succeeds admirably with cherries in 
moderate climates and in good soils. Spring plant- 
ing is rather more common, but only because it 
has become the custom to deliver and handle nur- 
sery trees in the spring. 

Sour cherries can be grown rather thickly on the 
ground. Small topped varieties like Morello can be 
successfully managed even as close as eight or ten 
feet apart. It is customary, however, to plant most 
sour cherries twelve to fifteen feet apart and this 
is the distance to be publicly recommended. Where 
sweet cherries are grown more distance is required. 
They should be planted sixteen to twenty feet apart 
each way. 

CULTIVATION AND CARE 

Cherries require practically the same cultivation 
and care and the same fertilization as plums. The 
cultivation should cease about midsummer, say July 
1, or after the crop has been picked. At this time 
it is advantageous to sow a cover crop. The same 
sorts as are used for peaches, viz, cow peas, soy 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 61 

beans, vetch, clover, crimson clover, etc., are to be 
recommended for cherries. 

Cherries are sometimes said to become bark- 
bound. This is remedied by slitting the bark, be- 
ginning at the lower branches and carrying the 
knife down to the ground. Three or four such slits 
may be made in each trunk running down clear 
through the sap wood. It is a question whether 
this does any good or not, but it probably does not 
do any harm. 

PRUNING 

The cherry tree stands about midway between 
the plum and the peach in its habit of growth as 
well as in its habit of fruit bearing. The pruning 
of the tree therefore takes a similar middle course. 
Care should be taken with young trees the first 
two or three years of growth to secure strong sym- 
metrical well balanced heads. This is done by care- 
ful annual pruning, or better still, by two or three 
prunings each year. After the heads have been 
formed and the trees have been brought safely 
into bearing comparatively little pruning is re- 
quired — perhaps less on .cherries than on any 
other fruit trees. It is necessary only to re- 
move the broken, binding or interfering branches, 
and occasionally to open up the head slightly 
by taking out limbs where they are crowding. 
Sour cherries particularly submit well to a more 
severe method of repressive pruning, such as 
is sometimes practiced on plums and peaches. 
In these prunings the annual growth is severe- 
ly headed in each year. From one-third to 
three-quarters of the last annual shoots are thus 
removed at a spring pruning and this process is re- 
peated annually. Indeed it is very important that 



62 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

the pruning should be regular and uniform, if these 
methods are to be adopted at all. They are very 
successful when judiciously and thoroughly carried 
out. They produce mortifying results, however, 
when wrongly managed. 

PICKING AND MARKETING 

Cherries should always be picked with the stems 
on. There is no exception to this rule. The stems 
are valuable. They help to carry the fruit to mar- 
ket. Moreover when the stems are plucked out, 
the juice always exudes from the wound and the 
fruit quickly becomes moist and sticky. In com- 
mercial orchards the picking is usually done by 
women and girls and paid for it at the rate of two 
cents a quart. 

Cherries are quite commonly sold in quart bas- 
kets of the same kind as are used for strawberries. 
These baskets are crated and shipped in the same 
way. Where cherries are abundant they can be 
sold in larger packages, and ought to be. The Climax 
baskets of the five, eight and ten pound sizes are 
perhaps the most practical packages for handling 
cherries in the market. Cherries are usually sold 
by the quart, but sometimes by the pound. This is 
a sad commentary on the quantities offered in most 
markets. Cherries ought to be sufficiently abund- 
ant so that everybody could buy them by the peck 
or bushel. 

DISEASES AND INSECTS 

The sweet cherry is especially subject to all dis- 
eases and insects within reach. It is hardly worth 
while to give here a list of the diseases and insects 
which are to be expected on sweet cherries. The 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 63 

sour cherry is remarkably free from serious insect 
depredations and fungus attacks. The leaf spot 
sometimes defoliates the tree early in the year, but 
not often enough to injure the tree seriously. 
Spraying with Bordeaux mixture will largely pre- 
vent the damage. The black knot occasionally ap- 
pears on neglected cherry trees, but the methods 
described for the repression of the black knot of 
the plums will more easily prevail against the black 
knot of the cherry. The black knot of the cherry, 
by the way, is caused by exactly the same fungus 
as that which causes the black knot of the plum. 
The disease may be readily communicated from 
the cherry trees to the plums, or vice versa. 

The curculio sometime attacks sour cherries, but 
not often to such an extent as to cause measurable 
injury. The aphis or plant louse is apt to be the 
worst insect enemy of the sour cherry. When this 
appears early in the season, as it is apt to do in dry 
weather, it may cause very serious damage. If it 
comes late in the year, that is after July 15, the 
damage is considerably less, and after August 1 it 
might as well be disregarded. There is hardly any 
way of combating this aphis after it has once gained 
lodgment on the young leaves. Soon after it be- 
gins work the leaves are curled backward, thus 
effectively protecting the lice. If they are discov- 
ered, however, before they have secured perfect 
lodgment, they may be successfully treated with 
kerosene emulsion. 

To make kerosene emulsion, dissolve one-half a 
pound of soap shaved fine in one gallon of boiling 
water. Remove this from the fire and pour it while 
still hot into two gallons of kerosene. Churn this 
thoroughly with a spray pump until it changes first 
to a creamy mass, then to a soft buttery-like mass. 



64 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



This can be kept for a considerable time. When it 
is desired for use, it should be diluted by taking 
nine parts of water to one of the stock. After these 
preparations have been put into the spray pump, it 
is well to have them thoroughly agitated by pump- 
ing back into the tank for several minutes. Kero- 
sene emulsion is a nasty thing to make and un- 
pleasant thing to use, and when wrongly prepared 
or improperly applied, is apt to damage the plants. 
It should therefore be undertaken with due fore- 
thought and the work done with great care. 

VARIETIES 

There are comparatively few varieties of cherries 
generally grown in this country. Leaving aside the 
sweet cherries, which as has been said, cut only a 
small figure in American pomology, the number of 
varieties extensively planted are only about three. 
These are Richmond, Montmorency and Morello. 
While there are several other good varieties of sour 
cherries such as Dyehouse, Mayduke, Ostheim, etc., 
the three first named represent a very large ma- 
jority of the trees used. They furnish a good suc- 
cession of fruit in the order named above, Rich- 
mond being early, Montmorency midseason, and 
Morello a late variety. The following list of vari- 
eties includes only those most commonly sold by 
American nurserymen today. 

Belle de Choisy (Sour)— Medium size, roundish, 
reddish, short-stemmed, flesh pale, flavor mild and 
good, early, moderately prolific. 

Belle d'Orleans (Sweet)— Medium to large, heart- 
shape, yellow and red, early to mid-season, and a 
good early market variety. 

Belle Magnifique (Sour)— Large, roundish, rich 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 65 

red, stem long, flavor good, late, productive; tree 
good. 

Blackhawk (Sweet) — Fruit large, heart-shaped, 
purplish black, flesh purple, rich and good. Ripens 
in June. 

Black Heart (Sweet) — Medium size, heart-shape, 
black, flavor good, mid-season, not very hardy, but 
an old-time favorite. 

Black Tartarian (Sweet) — Large, heart-shape, 
black, flesh dark, rich and sweet, early, good grower 
and productive, one of the leading favorites. 

Coe's Transparent (Sweet) — Medium size, pale 
and red, sweet and good quality, early ripening, an- 
other old-time favorite, especially for home use. 

Downer (Sweet) — Size medium, red, tender, rich 
and highly flavored, medium late, a good sort. 

Dyehouse (Sour) — Medium size, roundish oblate, 
red, fairly good quality, very early. A profitable 
sort. 

Elton (Sweet) — Large, heart-shape, pale yellow to 
red, flesh firm, rich, highly flavored; prolific, but 
not a good market variety. 

Gov. Wood (Sweet) — Large, roundish, yellow and 
red, nearly sweet, rich and good, early to medium, 
prolific and profitable where any cherries of this 
class can be grown. 

Louis Philippe (Sour) — Medium size, round, dark 
red with red flesh. Ripens in July. Good. 

May Duke (Sour) — Large, round, red but becom- 
ing nearly black, flesh reddish, but becoming darker, 
early. Formerly very popular, but less so in re- 
cent years. 

Montmorency (Sour) — Tree large, upright; fruit 
large red, round, sour, medium season. An old 
French variety very widely grown in this country. 
Very variable, or at least there are many different 



66 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 

forms sold by nurserymen, some better than others. 
One of the best market varieties. 

Morello (Sour) — Medium to large, dark red, al- 
most black, flesh dark, late to very late. Tree 
dwarfish and bearing early. One of the very best 
market and home use varieties. The early Morello 
is a sub-variety of this. Like all the old varieties, 
this varies greatly, some strains being better than 
others. 

Napoleon (Sweet) — Large to very large, heart- 
shape, yellow marked with red, flesh very firm, 
good quality, rather late, tree good, productive, very 
largely grown for market and for canning. 

Olivet (Sour) — Large, roundish, red, early and 
fairly good; formerly much grown for market. 

Ostheim (Sour) — Large to very large, dark red, 
flesh dark, very good, tree hardy, mid-season. A 
first rate variety of Russian origin. 

Reine Hortense (Sour) — Large, roundish, bright 
red, sub-acid; late, moderately productive; a good 
variety. 

Richmond, or Early Richmond (Sour) — Small to 
medium size, round, bright red, stem rather short 
and stout, juicy, productive, early, a fine market 
variety. Tree a strong, clean grower and an early 
bearer. 

Windsor (Sweet) — Large, roundish, yellow and 
red, juicy and good, late and one of the best of its 
class. 

Yellow Spanish (Sweet) — Large, heart-shape, yel- 
low with a red blush, firm and good flavor. One 
of the best. Mid-season. 



FRUIT-GROWER CO., ST. JOSEPH, MO. 67 



The Nectarine 

This is a fruit worthy of much more general cul- 
ture in America. In fact it is almost unknown. 
The named varieties of nectarines are propagated 
exactly like peaches. They are budded on peach 
stocks, or they may be dwarfed by budding on plum 
stocks. As the nectarine is a garden fruit rather 
than an orchard tree, the dwarf form is compara- 
tively more desirable than in the case of the peach. 
The methods of planting, pruning, and management 
are exactly the same as for the peach, as are also 
the treatment of diseases and insects. • 

There are only a few varieties known, of which 
the following are most commonly propagated in 
America. 

Boston — Medium to large, round oval, yellow with 
red blush, flesh yellow, freestone, quality medium 
to good, mid-season. 

Downton — Medium to large, round oval, color 
greenish, with a red blush in the sun, rather attrac- 
tive, flesh greenish, half free, quality fair to good; 
very early. 

Early Newington — Medium to large, round oval, 
green, flesh greenish white, marked with red; cling- 
stone; quality good to best; early. 

Early Violet — Medium to large, round, yellow 
marked with red, handsome, freestone; very early. 

Stanwick — Small to medium, round oval, greenish, 
flesh white, quality only fair; late. 



68 SUCCESS WITH STONE FRUITS 



The Apricot 

This fruit is a curiosity outside of California. For 
the sake of variety it may be grown in almost any 
garden, at least within the section where the peach 
succeeds. The tree and fruit are almost midway 
between the plum and the peach in character, are 
subject to the same diseases, and are cultivated and 
managed in the same way. The apricot is best prop- 
agated on apricot stocks, which are grown from 
seed as peach stocks are grown. It may also be 
propagated by budding on peach or plum stocks. 
The fruit is rather better when cooked and canned 
than when eaten fresh from the tree. When eaten 
fresh it should be perfectly ripe. Many persons get 
an unnecessarily poor opinion of the apricot from 
eating the fruit in a half-ripe state. 

The following varieties are best known in America: 

Alexander — Orange yellow, early; freestone. Rus- 
sian. - 

Budd — Small, yellow with red cheek, fairly good, 
medium early, but hardy. Russian. 

Gibb — Another Russian, roundish, light yellow, 
fairly good; early; freestone. 

Moorpark — One of the oldest and most popular 
varieties; large, nearly round, orange or orange red, 
freestone, firm flesh, juicy, mid-season. Not so 
hardy as the Russians, but a better fruit. 

Ringgold — Large, round, orange, good quality. 
Midseason. 

Royal — Medium large, roundish oval, yellow with 
flush, firm, juicy and sweet, freestone. One of the 
leading market varieties in California. 



CONTENTS 

Author's Foreword 4 

The Stone Fruits 5 

The Peach 6 

The Plum 8 

The Cherry 13 

The Apricot 14 

The Nectarine 15 

Culture of the Peach 16 

Climate and Soil 20 

Planting 21 

Cultivation 24 

Fertilization 26 

Pruning 2 7 

Diseases and Insects 3 3 

Picking and Marketing 34 

Varieties 35 

Culture of the Plum 40 

Propagation * 40 

Soil and Climate 43 

Planting 43 

Cultivation and General Care 4 4 

Pruning 46 

Diseases and Insects 4 7 

Varieties 51 

Culture of the Cherry 57 

Propagation 57 

Soil and Climate 59 

Planting 59 

Cultivation and Care 60 

Pruning fii 

Picking and Marketing 62 

Diseases and Insects 62 

Varieties 64 

The Nectarine 67 

The Apricot ) 8 8 



MAY 4 1906 



ST JOSEPH, MISSOURI 



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